Bill Text: NY A03264 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to making it unlawful for a caretaker to post a vulnerable elderly person on social media without their consent.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to codes [A03264 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A03264-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3264

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 2, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JENSEN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Codes

        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to elder abuse through social
          media

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 260.40  to
     2  read as follows:
     3  §  260.40  Unlawful  posting  of  a  vulnerable elderly person on social
     4             media.
     5    A person is guilty of unlawful posting of a vulnerable elderly  person
     6  on  social  media when, being a caregiver while performing their duty of
     7  care for a vulnerable elderly person, he or she posts an image or  video
     8  of  such  person on social media including, but not limited to Facebook,
     9  YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr and Flickr,  without  such
    10  person's consent.
    11    1. The following definitions are applicable to this section:
    12    (a) "Forcible compulsion" means to compel by either:
    13    (i) use of physical force; or
    14    (ii)  a  threat,  express or implied, which places a person in fear of
    15  immediate death or  physical  injury  to  himself,  herself  or  another
    16  person,  or  in  fear that he, she or another person will immediately be
    17  kidnapped.
    18    (b) "Physical helplessness" means that a person is unconscious or  for
    19  any other reason is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an
    20  act.
    21    (c)  "Mental  incapacity"  means an individual does not comprehend the
    22  nature and consequences of what he or she consents to.
    23    (d) "Mental disability" means that a  person  suffers  from  a  mental
    24  disease  or  defect  which  renders  him  or  her  incapable of informed
    25  consent.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04878-01-3
        A. 3264                             2

     1    (e) "Caregiver" means a person who (i) assumes responsibility for  the
     2  care  of  a  vulnerable  elderly  person pursuant to a court order; (ii)
     3  receives monetary or other valuable consideration for providing care for
     4  a vulnerable elderly person; (iii) is identified as  a  caregiver  by  a
     5  patient  under  the public health law who provides after-care assistance
     6  to a patient living in his or her residence including, but  not  limited
     7  to,  a  relative,  partner,  friend  or  neighbor  who has a significant
     8  relationship with the patient; or (iv) is an informal caregiver such  as
     9  a  family member, friend, neighbor, or other natural person who normally
    10  provides the daily care or supervision of a  vulnerable  elderly  person
    11  who  may,  but  need  not reside in the same household as the vulnerable
    12  elderly person.
    13    (f) "Vulnerable elderly person" means a person sixty years of  age  or
    14  older  who  is  suffering  from  a  disease or infirmity associated with
    15  advanced  age  and  manifested  by  demonstrable  physical,  mental   or
    16  emotional  dysfunction  to  the  extent  that the person is incapable of
    17  adequately providing for his or her own health or personal care.
    18    2. Lack of consent under this section results from:
    19    (a) forcible compulsion;
    20    (b) physical helplessness;
    21    (c) mental incapacity;
    22    (d) mental disability; or
    23    (e) any circumstance  in  which  the  victim  does  not  expressly  or
    24  impliedly acquiesce in the actor's conduct.
    25    Unlawful  posting  of a vulnerable elderly person on social media is a
    26  class A misdemeanor.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
    28  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.